“The long turnaround and operational uncertainty lead us to prefer other US-based mega caps in our coverage, such as Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet.”

Keybanc

source

Reuters

Price target: $220 (raised from $195)

“Despite the extraordinary volume of negative headlines over the last year, engagement across the Facebook platforms continues to grow at what appears to be very healthy rates,” Keybanc’s analysts wrote.

“This appears to be supporting stability in the Facebook news feed; strong growth in the Instagram news feed; and tremendous opportunities for growth in stories formats, commerce, and video.

“We believe this combination of solid engagement and revenue growth potential suggests Facebook can sustain very healthy growth for several years,” they added.

The analysts also said the company “appears to be through the largest period of incremental spend related to health and security issues,” raising the prospect of a return to its historical profit margins in the coming years.

JMP

source

Facebook

Price target: $220 (raised from $195)

The key takeaway for JMP’s analysts was Facebook’s “focus on building a more private ‘living room’ type platform over the next several years” that could “unlock newer opportunities around payments and messaging, while attracting a greater overall user base.”

They highlighted short-term hurdles such as ad-targeting issues and the FTC fine, but argued Facebook and Instagram have “long runways ahead.”

“We believe greater Stories adoption among users and advertisers, commerce opportunities with Checkout on Instagram and Collaborative Ads, and Video, among others, can lead to continued growth going forward.”

Credit Suisse

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source

Phil Noble/Reuters

Price target: $235 (raised from $211)

Credit Suisse analysts cheered a “straightforward quarter,” adding that Facebook’s strong performance is “affording management the luxury to de-prioritize monetization of Messenger and WhatsApp to focus on privacy.”

“Street models are too conservative and underestimate the long-term monetization potential of other billion-user properties like Messenger and WhatsApp,” they added.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

source

Charles Platiau/Reuters

Price target: $215 (raised from $210)

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey’s analysts find Facebook stock “compelling” due to its attractive valuation and advertisers and users’ apparent disregard for the negative publicity around he company’s data privacy and regulation. They also highlighted the prospect of higher revenues as engagement with Instagram Stories rises and the platform’s shopping functions improve, as well as the growth potential of WhatsApp and Messenger.

Moreover, the analysts cheered Zuckerberg’s idea of a more privacy-focused Facebook. “Starting on product development now gives Facebook an opportunity to help shape, and maybe lead, the next breed of social platforms.”